SHOW REVIEW |
By Margaret Chapman and Helen Williams
The Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show is a great event. The atmosphere at the Carlton Gardens and the beautiful Royal Exhibition building is fun, creative and simply buzzes with life and inspiration.
Magnificent trees in the Carlton Gardens provide a wonderful backdrop and welcome shade for the thousands who flock here to see the display gardens and retail exhibitors and the floral and art displayed in the historic Royal Exhibition Building Located in the heart of Melbourne the Show is easy to get to, great fun and chock full of inspiration for us all.
While the 125,000-plus visitors enjoyed more than 300 exhibits, wandering players provided music and costumed couples interest, performers on stilts wandered through the crowds to amuse and delight children and young at heart. |
Fantastic insects amused |
The display gardens at the Show provide a showcase for design at its most contemporary. Design on the edge and a view of the gardens of tomorrow. There are many wonderful ideas and inspirations to be gleaned from these gardens, and talking to their creators provides an added insight into garden design and what we expect from our gardens today.
It is an odd fact that while the display gardens at any Flower Show are almost all contemporary and low maintenance planting in blocks of a few plants; Show visitors thronged the retail section queuing to snap up colourful spring bulbs and gorgeous roses. Few passionate and keen gardeners can resist a new clematis or a splendid lily, but these are little used in the Show gardens.
Display Gardens: Inside and outside
The display gardens focused on out-door living, reflecting the inside 'outside' theme of the Show and also they way we use our gardens and what we expect them to deliver today.
The gardens were almost without exception modern designs. Clean lines and well-defined hard landscaping with pared down planting. Some gardens were more minimalist than others and the designs had many inspirations from modern to classical influences, Japanese themes, native and dry-garden plantings to a traditional styled garden.
The IOOF Funds Management Garden enjoyed a huge display site and was handled in a very modern way. Created by James Craig Landscapes (+61 (0)416 066 010). The 'Vertical Element' garden won a Gold Medal. Divided into several smaller courtyards, each with its own style and atmosphere, the garden worked as whole because of the use of strong vertical elements - water features and walls in solid colour. The design concept was a response to the brief for a modern contemporary garden environment and to the shrinking outdoors space many city dwellers enjoy. Stainless steel, glass and stone were used and contemporary colours and textures enhanced the walls.
Tall vertical walls provided screening without the bulk of large trees and water was also used on the vertical, running down surfaces and becoming a fascinating dynamic feature in the garden. The gardens all featured outdoor seating and dining areas, gardens to be used and lived in as we expect today, and that provide a refuge and a space for entertaining or contemplation.
Planting was restricted to a limited palette, carefully selected to complement the clean, crisp lines of the design. Yuccas, cycas and stretlitzias provided strong statements against the coloured walls. Softer planting was provided by mondo grass. Sails, again complementing the modern look of the garden, provided shade.
More contemporary in planting style, the Silver Award winning Eckersley Stafford Design (+61 (0)3 9822 0699) garden employed strong shapes repeated in the garden and a controlled use of colour and planting. An intricate screen backed tall, copper planters with grass in serried rows on glass pebbles. Exposed pebble paving edged a paved area and held a lone, startlingly blue sun-lounger. Alternating panels of green plaster and copper on the rear wall provided privacy and a strong design statement fronted by a screen of shrubs, some lovely tawny grasses and succulents. In the centre a copper bowl held a small water feature. |
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Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2002
Dates: 10 - 14 April 2002
(See our Events Listings for details)
Venue: Royal Exhibition Building and surrounding Carlton Gardens, Melbourne
For More Garden Event Reviews | | |
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Vertical Element, IOOF Funds Garden |
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Perfomers entertained |
Show visitors snap up colourful spring bulbs |
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Strong vertical elements in the IOOF Funds Garden |
IOOF Funds Garden - Vertical water, a dynamic feature |
IOOF Funds Garden - Plants limited to a few |
Eckersley Stafford |
Eckersley Stafford | |
